The Blog of Author Youseph Tanha

So, I Saw Transformers 2

Yup, I saw Transformers 2, and it was a cinematic abortion. A phrase I have used on Twitter, and Facebook when asked about the sequel to the first live action mistake that Micheal Bay directed in 2007.

Now I know I have said I would never pay to see Transformers 2. I started saying that shortly after seeing the first film. Truth be told I didn’t. A good friend of mine paid for my ticket to see the movie. Partly as a joke. Partly because of the friends we went with like to see me rant and rave about it. But mostly to celebrate the birthday of a good friend.

The movie so rudely, and blatantly went against the 25 year history that Hasbro has with Transformers. Micheal Bay probably can’t tell you a thing about the Transformers mythology. Rather then reading up on it, he reinvented it, changing just about every single aspect of the Transformers story line. He would talk on his website, and forum, explaining his process of auditioning a couple of the original voice actors for the movie parts. It came off as if he was doing all the fans of Transformers a huge favor. As if auditioning them, and giving the voice actgers a roll in his movie would make all his re-imagining of a 25 year old beloved mythology, acceptable to the fans.

I think not.

With the release of Transformers 2 I can easily say I am not the only one who was disappointed with this movie. Professionals in the industry are also not happy with it.

…a horrible experience of unbearable length.” “The day will come when Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be studied in film classes and shown at cult film festivals. It will be seen, in retrospect, as marking the end of an era. Of course there will be many more CGI-based action epics, but never again one this bloated, excessive, incomprehensible, long (149 minutes) or expensive (more than $200 million).” Roger Ebert

Transformers 2 has a shot at the title Worst Movie of the Decade. Peter Travers of Rolling Stones

for the uninitiated, it’s loud, tedious, and at 147 minutes, way too long. Ray Bennett of the Hollywood Reporter

As I have said before I hope that these Transformers movies bring some interest to people to go back and read and watch the original stories. I hope before I die someone comes along and makes a Transformers movie that should have been made.

Post navigation

6 thoughts on “So, I Saw Transformers 2”

You didn’t like it because of the way it treated the Transformers lore, but most people didn’t like it because it was just a bad movie. That raises the question, if the lore in 1 & 2 was perfect and they did everything historically correct, would you have liked it then?

To put my question in perspective, thousands of Star Trek fans just HATED the movie, but it was otherwise universally liked. It was a good movie despite breaking some of the Star Trek “rules.”

To answer your question Alex, yes if the lore was perfect in the movies 1 & 2 I believe I would have liked it. But I am not asking for the lore to be perfect either. In a 25 year old mythology I understand some things need to be updated and fixed. I have read the comics several times. I have watched the cartoons several times. There are loop holes in both stories. Their are mistakes. But there was hardly anything recognizable in the two recent movies.

Oh come on, parts of it weren’t “that” bad. At least he helped the Navy finally revealed its rail gun project! I’m kind of with you on the lore, and the remaking / reimagining of franchises, my personal beef is when the movie is a classic and they feel the need to make a quick buck off of a new version that also changes the story line. I honestly thought it would have been an “acceptable” movie if they’d gotten rid of most of the attempt at humor and the excessive number of sidekicks such as the Twins.

But, sometimes a franchise does need a bit of updating and imagining. I saw a few old episodes of some shows that have been reimagined and the new ones at least use modern plots and science. For example, the new and old Battlestar’s don’t even compare. the new one has good plot, writing and acting. Not to mention really good SF/X. I think they should just be a bit more careful about HOW they revamp classics… and ask themselves if they even should.

If Megatron was dropped into the deepest part of the ocean, where the temperature and pressure would crush and destroy him……then how did other Transformers make the swim down? Wouldn’t they have been destroyed?